Session Report [T6]: Escape ... of a sort

I've missed posting for a few sessions, but mostly the party was wandering around the dungeon and trying to figure out what to do and who they wanted to align with (if anyone)!

What a session!  The Grim Nature of Dungeon Titanicus revealed itself fully this round - mutilation and death were everywhere and finished with an ending that even I could not have imagined. 

The Party

• Xion - Mage with a "special" sense of time and space
• Zigfried - Artificer with an nearly unfortunate sense of curiosity
• Katt - a weakling with an insecurity complex and a Silver Great Axe!
• Jorge - a Mexican spiritualist with a fondness for tamale and peyote
• Feldmutz - 30's gangster who made Capone look like a milquetoast pansy

Adventure Highlights

• Zigfried was Party Leader (we roll+sessions survived at the beginning of each session)
• While normally able to awaken in any "safe zone", the party was unable to awaken in the Deshi Nest! Ziggy felt something had gone terribly wrong.
• Waking at the Cave of Heinrich, they met two new companions: Ktt & Jorge
• Some time was spent chatting with Heinrich the frienly gentleman adventurer ghost.
• Ziggy crafted a mechanical "bridge" to cross the gap left by the burned up rope and plank bridge using his Artificers moves and a pile of parts looted the previous session.
• Crossing the bridge was perilous - both Katt and Jorge nearly fell off and died while attempting to be cool. Xion the Mage saved the day with some arcane leverage
• Katt was nearly devoured by garbage leeches as the party rested on the other side of the gorge. Napping in refuse is less than desirable.
• The party mucked about in the chamber of green flame pillars. Some had been here before and knew the pillars were bad news. The far end of the chamber was filled with dark cold water.
• A Forgotten Sister wandered in, combat, green flames gripping folks, an exploding door, and Feldmuts saving Xion from drowning.  Such action!
• Exploring a previously ignored chamber, the party found many useful treasures ... then shit went south
• Opening a cursed lock Ziggy went blind!
• Opening a similar cursed lock, Feldmutz became SO STUPID (his final INT dropped to -7) that his body forgot how to breath or even beat his heart!  His corpse was looted.
• Jorge ignored several warning that the crown he carried was evil, and moments later castrated himself to gain Insight from Beyond the Veil from a Necromancer Soul that inhabited the crown.
• The party managed to get some sort of ancient book (in a trunk in a pack worn by a dead monkey) and a scroll of numerous arcane spells (that was in a mineral deposit on display on a pedestal).  But was it worth it?  The magic looked particularly nasty.
• Enter Fredicus - a stoner from LA with a strange living crossbow growing from his arm.
• The party moved on and discovered that the Deshi Nest had been destroyed by the Journe, futuristic ant-men. Shit. The Journe had been previously encountered and are bad news.
• The party conitnued on to another known area - the Baths of the Oracle!  Healing and drinking from magic pools recovered some hit points and cured Ziggy's blindness.
• The party knew the Bath held some sort of power if they could just figure out the ritual, but they couldn't quite get it sorted out.  They decided that getting out the shaft above the baths (some 30' above the floor) was their primary goal.
• Then, through a combination of technology and magic, the party managed to get up the 300' shaft above the baths!  It was pretty sweet.
• The party encountered some sort of short large-featured humanoids that were clearly guarding the tower the party had managed to get themselves into.
• "Disguised" in women's robes similar to those found in the Palace of the Oracle and with some communication magic, the party convinced the humanoids (they started calling them gnomes at some point) that they were on a mission from the Oracle and needed to "get outside"
• As the spell wore off, the gnomes led the party to ...
• ... wait for it ...
• OUTSIDE!

Reeling from the sunlight caressing their faces and the cool breeze filling their lungs, we ended the session.  It was bloody and violent but, as usual, not super combat-heavy.  More importantly, the party is outside and has a general direction toward somewhere called "Haven".  They've been hearing about this place. A new phase of the adventure was about to begin. Praise Narkul!  Roll credits and play closing theme music.

GM Notes
Without fail, the more a GM plans, the less a group of players given free will will follow along.  I was certain they were going to follow up on a lead from last session to find the Vault of Serpents which lead to "a way out", but the buggers got clever and used one of the "teaser" exits and managed to overcome the guardians.  Awesome!  

Now I need to get the Perilous Journey rules meshed up with our playing style and work on the Overworld a bit more. But I'm ready! The Dreadful Wilderness is indeed dreadful, and will open up so many opportunities for exploring the setting outside of Dungeon Titanicus.  And who knows what they might find along the way to Haven ... if such a place even exists.  ooooh!  It was like the last episode of a season - and I can't wait for the next chapter!

Some Precursor Race Tables

The Precursors
Squamous things, lizard-like humanoids known for building a great empire, letting it collapse, then managing to linger on the edges of their fallen empire as scavengers of culture and light.  In their golden age they were an all powerful creator race, but near the end they were tourists in the remains of a world they could neither understand or fully interact with. They were cruel things: enslavers and takers, cold-blooded and without love in their hearts.

Ruins
1. Stepped Pyramid, listing badly
2. Ornate Aqueducts, broken
3. Sprawling City, crumbling
4. Mythic Observatory, collapsed
5. Breeding Temple, flooded
6. Engine of the Gods, imploded

Things
1. The Iron Key, never rusted or corroded, may be a religious symbol of sorts
2. Containment Pods, stone and ornate metal, for sleeping or cloning or rejuvenation?
3. Rod of Obek, lingering magic often present, a status symbol of some sort
4. Black Blade, ornate black stone sword-like weapons, two handed for humans
5. Faded Frieze, showing domination and power, decoration or propaganda
6. Stone Armor, articulated joints of bronze, not suitable for human use

Magics
1. The hundred teeth that snap and rend
2. Scales thick as grell and sturdy as iron
3. Quiet the chattering mind and silence the willful soul
4. Let the earth weep freely and pool his tears
5. Call upon the Shadows to show hidden knowledge
6. Wither the blood and crack the bone

Rumors
1. They created the dwarves as slaves because humans were too unruly
2. Their sorcerers were tremendous but brought the Darkness from beyond the Void
3. Some of them still wander in the Underworld and don't know they are extinct.
5. The savage descendants can be spied in the Picklin Marsh, wearing ancient gold and silver
6. The precursors themselves were once servants of the Dragons from the Far Realm

Using Random Dungeon Tables

I haven't had much to post about recently, which is a bummer.  Work has screwed up my online game sessions and the tabletop game has been progressing.  The memory recovery and gaining class as a level-up has been pretty successful, but I haven't been super-inspired recently.

The one thing I did do, however, was tweak out my random dungeon generator.  I've been spending ages on this ting, bringing in random tables from other places, cramming ideas together, tweaking values and percentages, and making it fit the place it is building - Dungeon Titanicus, the basis of the Dawn of Eradu campaign.

The generate creates a series of random rooms with random stuff and random monsters based on the specific dungeon level.  Loot is based loosely on the level as well.  These are not end-all be-all descriptions, but more along the lines of inspirational things.  The level already has a basic outline and concept - for example the Vault of Serpents is romaneque in architecture, crumbling, and set at a tilt; it is populated by the Cult of the Serpent and numerous snake-like things with the occasional faction elements from neighboring levels and some things from the region of the dungeon it is in. These inspirational descriptions are applied to an already numbered dungeon map.

An example of a randomly generated room (not from the final version for those who may be sneaking a peek):

--------------------------------
Area 1: Maze of Inscrutable Gloom - Observatory
Description: Vase with violets, red cake Sign: "Eat me"
Special: Feature
   Dungeon Pie (tart)
   Develop bat like sonar from this magic bat pie
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Translated into the notes for the game:

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Area 1: Observation Deck

• Description: Vase with violets and red tart with a sign: "Eat me".  The end of a huge telescope juts through what appears to be a liquid mirror and it shows a far-off world where humans are playing chess.
• Stuff: Dungeon Pie, savory bat filling. Eat it to gain Sonar

  When concentrating and using Sonar to "see" in the dark, Roll+WIS

  10+: get details like you can see normally

  7-9: get a vague impression

--------------------------------

or this:

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Area 7: Never Ending Lake of the Undercity - Morgue

Description: northern part of floor illusionary, covers snake pit, and 5 half-dissolved metal ladder rungs lie scattered across the room
Random Monster: Level Monster
   1 Ragged Medusae

--------------------------------

becomes:

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Area 7: Caustic Lake of Dreams

• Description: The majority of the floor is an illusion - the illusion part of the floor has no dirt or grime (easily observed by anyone looking).  A metal ladder, the bottom half dissolved, is on the safe part of the floor.The floor drops 30' (1d12 damage) into 1' deep puddle of slightly causing Ragged Medusae drool (she has been asleep and dreaming here for ages).  Splashdown irritates a bunch of snakes swimming in the drool and likely awakens the Ragged Meduase.
• Stuff: Ragged Medusae, asleep but easily awoken; irritable as she was having a nice dream

<add Ragged Meduae stat block>

--------------------------------

If the description doesn't work or I don't like it, I ignore it.  If I want to plop something specific down instead, I do.  But having this jumble of often only semi-sensible ideas can get the creative juices flowing. I love these tables and happily loot them from everywhere - the 1e DMG, D&D with Porn Stars, Elfmaids and Octopi, all of it!  

Thanks OSR and the internet!

Deshi Spearmen & Creating Otherworldly NPCs

The tabletop group encountered a new faction this last session - the Deshi Spearmen.  Interaction with these creatures should be incredibly difficult as

1. They are plant creatures
2. Their language is a combination of rustling leave, wind sounds, and subtle movements
3. They are really really not human

However, through clever use of the "Recovered Memories" mechanic and some serious luck (a player recovered a memory about being lost in the Great Desh Forest and being rescused by strange forest folk about 5 real life minutes before they actually even knew the Deshi were in the dungeon) there was much awesome interaction.

Deshi Spearmen	Tags: Stealthy, Plants, Organized
Type: Walking Impaler	Organization: Small Group
Description: Small, entagled, briars	Instinct: to spread
HP: 8 Armor: 2	Attack: thrown thorn spear or thorny lash ( d8+1 )   reach or close, piercing 1
Moves:   Call creeping vines   Compost the dead   Release soporific spores	Known For:   Immunity to piercing weapons   Hatred of open flames

The Deshi spearmen do not think like mammals, but they are intelligent.  They do not have names as such, but groups often refer to themselves in "tribe names" that resemble locations from which they hail, such as Oakflower.  They do not have concepts of politeness or imagination and speak only in absolutes.  The one abstract concept they have is "Fairness" - something for something, like for like. They fear very little, but when they do encounter something that is a threat their tend to deal with it by ignoring it and will simply not recognize it.  If attacked, however, they respond with untamed ferocity.  They seem to be a collective, but not a hive mind - the concept of the individual is irrelevant to them; but it is the individuals that often cause strife and woe.

...

So how the hell do you interact with and role play plant folks that are have a different view of the world and needs and desires that are completely out of alignment with the normal adventurer?  Deer are more of a problem to their young than a rampaging patchwork demon. I decided that I run this that communication, since they had someone who could at least partially communicate with them, could only be as though they were 2.  You couldn't ask anything more complex than a 2-year-old and the answers you got back were the same.  Subtlety was not possible, nor complex concepts. As someone without kids, this seems reasonable (those with kids may disagree, but just go with it).

I also chose the words and actions carefully. When the party identified a threat that the Deshi already knew about, they simply did not respond or (and here is they key) refused to look at the threat.  I translated things into forest and nature terms; things were described as versions of creatures familiar to the Deshi's native land (even though the party don't really know much about the Great Desh). It created an otherwordly and somewhat difficult situation that the group seemed into.

Eventually, though, the party got things sorted, returned a group of Deshi that were out exploring (and had gone dormant - because that is another thing they can do because they are plant creatures), and made allies with these creatures.  They have another safe spot to start adventures from - at least until they lead the Deshi back to "The Sun".  Praise the Sun \o/

On a final note, one of the party accepted healing from the plant people.  It worked ... but now he is part plant as the fruit grew and took over a bit and he now has bark for skin.  Permanent +1 armor.  The character is a barbarian type, so it works out. :)

Session Report [T3] The Party Sorts Itself

This one is a bit late - from 2 weeks ago.  I've been thinking about the post because the session was almost all role playing and inter-party conflict.  Most than the usual the session seemed to be about the characters and party of characters with no memories figuring out who they each were, and the bloodbath that ensued.

What it came down to is that one character, in particular, was expressing as most definitely nasty and evil.  The player was running with it full tilt and the other players were, out of character, letting M.F. (the player running Proximo the Asmodeau-worshiping ex-gladiator) know that Proximo was on thin ice.  After the previous session where there was conflict between Proximo and Aster (run by the player R.R.) I thought it was settled, but it grew into a ferocious character-vs-character battle!

Two characters, Proximo and Aster, died in the conflict. Most Dungeon World folks will probably be aghast at this. Dungeon World is a narrative game and not really designed for characters to be fighting amongst themselves in deadly combat and surely not for unexpected deaths.  But it worked with my group.  Worked well.  In fact this isn't the first character M.F. has had that was "taken care of" by the party.

Normally inter-party conflict bogs down RPGs that are "old school". Bickering brings things to a halt.  But my group seems to thrive on it.  More than that, this seemed a necessary outcome of characters with no memories being formed through play; backgrounds emerged and players embraced what was happening.  It was amazing!  And the players were all having fun.  This wasn't a grudge match between players, it was actually character conflict that helped define the party structure and, dare I say it, morality.

Normally there are all sorts of alignments within a classic FRPG style party.  I loathe alignment systems - I feel they often act as a restriction for players or, worse yet, as an excuse for game-disrupting behavior.  And when they are not causing problems they are being ignored. Some folks apparently have good luck with alignment, in my 30 years I never have.

So what happened was a party of characters determined what their group was all about through actual play!  Not having pre-generated background allows players to create an organic group that, assuming they survive, has similar overall feelings about the world.  Killing NPCs without cause is bad. Worshiping nasty-soundings gods is bad. Trying to sabotage each other is bad. Not because of some sort of pre-determined implied social gamer contract, but because there are consequences for doing it.

In short, it was fucking awesome.

As for actual game highlights, the party found their first serious NPC and picked up a quest they were into. The party discovered Heinrich, the ghost of a gentleman adventurer who in no uncertain terms did not like the language they were using around the female member of the party. More on that in a moment. They also learned some things about the world and the place they were exploring.  Heinrich asked the party to bury his skull under a yew tree in the gardens near the city of Haven.  He let them know that they were exploring The Dungeon Titanicus; he and his companions had been doing so on purpose.  They learned a bit about The Terg (a sort of guardian), the Journe (the bug men they encountered before, although they didn't get the name) and a few thoughts on the Fire Thieves (also no name - the red-skinned fellows with combustable blood).

At the time I wasn't sure how I felt about the session, but after thinking about it for a few weeks, I've decided it was really fantastic.  The "recover your memories" thing is working (although I need to work on the "nightmares" part a bit) better than I had hoped. I'm getting a solid feel for using the DW system for the style of play I want and where I want to change things up a bit.

After the next session (tomorrow) we are taking a brief break to play some 2eWHFRP run by another member of the group.  This will give me a bit of time to back up and go over what has been written and flesh out more of Dungeon Titanicus.  I'm wicked excited :D  This is the best gaming I've been part of in my long time being a role player.

All Hail the New Golden Age and Praise the Sun!

Session Report [O3] Avoid the Smells

Running an online session nearly back-to-back with a live session in a persistent campaign environment is a bit weird.  One party seems to nearly always be stumbling across the remains of the other party, so I decided to keep things interesting to actually conjoin their timelines a bit - in other words some encounters I'm keeping even if they are fully played out because frankly, it is more fun that way.  Ahh fun. Also, I remembered to take notes this time.

The Party

• Feener: wields the "sweet-ass silver serpent blade" and generally tries to keep it together
• Gramps: really enjoys shooting things with his flintloque - a lot.  seriously he is power-crazy
• Armon: cool and slightly aloof, he is doing his best to prove he isn't the Manchurian Candidate
• Goblin: bald, wide-mouthed, and a bit stone-agey with a dash of mystical knowledge

Action Highlights

• The party spent some time investigating the rotting corpse of the hulking brun - it is now covered in blue-green mushrooms.  Some holy water didn't do much to make it smell better.  What it did do, however, was convince the party to explore the hole in the ceiling on the side far away from the wretched lemony stink.  Armon put himself in harm's way to ensure that Feener could climb up, and fresh bonds were beginning to be formed.
• The cavern they climbed into appeared to be hollowed out through natrual caustic action of some sort of huge worm.  This was based on both the smooth "cuts" into the stone, the acrid smell, and the mashed up guanno on the floor.  After some poking about Goblin found an old skeleton, but at the same time the Giant Mottled Cystworm returned!  Feener got kicked through the side passage and saved by Armon.
• Goblin snuck back close the othe cystworm to claim a prize he had identified just as Gramps blew a hole in the side of the thing, guts and flesh chunks spilling everywhere.  The GMC took the damage and let loose with a high-pitched howl as it fled deeper into it's lair.  The party considered following, but the acrid smell made them decide to turn around.
• Exploring one of the passages the party disocvers a series of cages filled with long dead oddities ... and get a feeling something is wrong.  With a sudden rash of minor thefts the party realizes that that aren't quite seeing something - Armon gets the first glance of a small lizard-like humanoid creature wearing a white cloak.  A sudden rash of violence and the crack of the flintloque later the party is feeling up an invidble creature.  Feener gets his hands on a black book of some sort that is clearly not "of the light".  He brushes away invetigation and tucks it in his pack ... everyone is wary.
• After much role playing an uncomfortable conversation, the party frees a trio of humans that have been "fixed by the masters".  They have been here a long time, are very hungry, and miss their dead "tree friends".  The party gets into some clever action with physics and breaks them out.  Both of them.  I mean just the one.  Once free, he gets a bit ... intense.  They name him Vern.  He calls himself MetaVern.
• Ignoring some stairs down, the party moves past a portcullis and beings to examine a strange construction of wood and bone, upon which fire sprites are dancing.  Vern gets into a conversation with someone behind a door.  "Sounds like a Fire Thief ... and a dead one at that.  I don't know much about ghosts."  MetaVern makes several uncalled for suggestions that the party ignores.
• The party opens a metal door and catches the salty scent of low tide.  The only way they have to go is now either Down (and they want to go Up) or into one of the smells.  As time was running low, we decided to call it for the evening.

GM Notes
There was some fantastic role playing with this session.  Four players, even online, is much easier than seven face-to-face.  Nonetheless, in both session I can see a spot where I need to help out - Bonds.  The bonds system of Dungeon World is AWESOME, but having everyone create their own from scratch is a bit difficult.  I'll be making a "Bonds cheat sheet" to help folks out.

Session Report [T2] Chaos Ensues

I had 7 players at my table this Sunday and it was, in a word, chaotic.  Normally I run for a group of 4-5 at a time.  I've run 7 before, but not in a situation where some folks haven't been in ages, the game was on pause for a bit, and the weather was freaking awesome and we played after a mega-grilling sessions.  And oh so much delicious beer!  It was fun, but took a bit to get on track.

The Party

• Van Damage: A halbard made of light and a pure Hollywood attitude
• Duchess: a bloody noble with a bloody cudgel and a bloody righteous attitude
• Offender 3 "Fen": inquisitive with religious overtones
• Ian: brash and leader-like with half a dozen personalities to help him out
• Proximo: a former gladiator with a nasty streak and dark intentions
• Astor: jeans, t-shirt, manacles, and prayers to Mother Mary and Jesus
• Feldmutze (aka Fishknuckle): dering do, a wide-brimmed rad hat, and a ruined machine gun

Adventure Highlights

• The party awoke with the usual sore backs and numb limbs in the large grey chamber.  This time, however, VanDamage caught a glimpse os somrt large mechanical thing retracting into the ceiling mists as though they had just despoisted some of the party mermbers.  
• The party interacted and argued with each other, Ian asjking why even the new party members (Astor in particular) didn't remember what happened last time.  After much foolishness and several stumbles, the party managed to make their way down into the field of statues (now nearly all destroyed except for a statue of Redhook, Blotch, Harmon, and an unknown figure giving everyone the finger).  Duchess fell a few times but used Fen to establish his domninance.
• As the chracters made their way up the cliff, they encountered a huge bulbous placental dome over the summon circle that adorned the cetner of the room.  After a bit of debate, VanDamage's halbard split the thing in twait revealing the last of the patcwork thing attempting to bind the with sorcerer's statue head.  It was whispering to each of the characters in turn to bring him another party member.  No one fell for it.
• Then Fen got a clever idea that he knew how to summon a planar servant.  His blood, plus the blood of Proximo, and some hard core incantations that he claimed to remember were going well, until they saw the bit of circle that VanDamage had pried out (it looked valuable).  Fan did manage to summon something ... inside of himself, which burst out and attacked Duchess wearing Duchess' mother's face.  Filthy patchowrk daemon killing ensued.

• Zigfried: chef clothes, chef hat, an improvised halberd, and a strong desire to create a new master dish!

• After much conversation and ignoring all warnings from Ian, folks went back into the lovely lady and tooth fountain and had a few drinks.  The end result was Duchess with a mouth full of too many teeth (gross!) and VanDamage a white goo puddle on the floor.

• Braun: wielding a morning star made of starlight and a fine selection of cheeses, his hat is definitely cool or in other words fly.

• The party explored the mostly explored Gathering Pool area and adjacent rooms.  There was much discussion of fiddling with buttons, but in the end everyone was distracted by the Green Devil Face and the strange dead red-skinned humanoid (with those obscene yellowish pouches on his cheeks). After some puttering, a way past the Green Devil Face was discovered, and the party ventured up some stairs.
• They found a strange construct made of scraps of wood and bone with sprites of fire dancing around in a mildly hypnotic pattern.  After some exploration, they determined that someone was hiding behind one of the doors.  Astor was almost able to communicate with the creature. A good solid door bash later turned the situation into a debacle - a frightened red-skinned man, surprised by the sudden door bashing accidentally speared Duchess, who was gutted and dead.  Proximo charge din shouting about vengeance and killed the shocked creature in a single strike, but fell down bleeding from a gut wound from the barbed spear.

• The Traveler: a silver spoon and ornate dagger are his tools.  A careless attitude and dislike of dirty dirty magic and writing is the feather in his cap.

• Astor got two of the party members to hold down Proximo so he could use his scalpels to "fix him up".  In reality he jabbed and perforated internal organs and ended up killing Proximo. However, Proximo made a deal with Asmodeaus to come back.  The dark daemon granted him life at a cost, but the ability to devour flesh of humans to recoup that cost.  
• Promixo came back and attacked Astor, things went poorly and he went down again, but somehow managed to survive!  Then there was much interrogation byt the rest of the party, a "sorting out" of the details of the situation, and in the end Proximo agreed to not kill anyone.
• One of the doors led to a cavern with natural pillars of stone and broken wooden bridges.  Feldmuts caused a ruckus by turning a huge wheel and dumping a deluge of rats and then water into the cavern floor (some 30+ feet below hidden by mist).  The things splashing around down there stopped giggling and moving about for a bit,  In the end, the party decided this was too dangerous for the moment and backtracked.
• After dealing with some portcullis and a strange hallway that looks to be celebratory or possibly like advertisements the party explored a menagerie where tings were dead ... other thana strange trio of brother that had been "modified by the Masters".  The party freed the slaves that seemed to have numerous lanaguges in their pocket and continued on.  NPCs they didn't kill?  WHAT?!
• The game ended with the party exploring some sort of viewing gallery and discovering a book that appeared to be some cultural discussion of what the Brothers called "The Mokk" - apparently they are a bit rough and often act as slavers.  Also, the lever to dump fire into the chamber of ash was found.  
• Full of burgers, beers, and role playing, we called it a night.

GM Notes
Seven players is too many when the party doesn't have a complete goal!  However it seemed to still be a good time for everyone.  I'm going to continue to keep neutral on this as long as everyone has fun.